I can get to the recovery disk but Catalina is so different from earlier Operating Systems I do not know how to proceed. I am thinking that in the future I may get a new computer and donate this one.
Mac mini, 10.15
While in Recovery Mode launch Disk Utility and click on "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears in the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the physical drive and erase it as GUID partition and APFS (top option) if reinstalling Mojave or Catalina or as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) if reinstalling High Sierra or earlier.
Here is an Apple article on erasing a physical drive:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496
If you are selling or giving away your Mac, then make sure to enable Filevault and let the encryption process finish so when you erase the drive it will delete the encryption keys further protecting any personal data on the drive. Then follow the instructions in this Apple article before selling the computer:
While in Recovery Mode launch Disk Utility and click on "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears in the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the physical drive and erase it as GUID partition and APFS (top option) if reinstalling Mojave or Catalina or as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) if reinstalling High Sierra or earlier.
Here is an Apple article on erasing a physical drive:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496
If you are selling or giving away your Mac, then make sure to enable Filevault and let the encryption process finish so when you erase the drive it will delete the encryption keys further protecting any personal data on the drive. Then follow the instructions in this Apple article before selling the computer:
Hi,
If you’re at the recovery disk state you should be able to select reinstall macOS. This guide talks you through it.
Let me know if you need me.
How do I remove the data from a computer running Catalina?
